Chapter 137
Ailie sat in her office, eyes glued to the trending news charts. Quantum Core Technologies’ stock had been skyrocketing these past two days-Curtis was making a killing, and so was The Langford Group.
Victoria, meanwhile, kept her head down, quietly doing her own work, seemingly unmoved by the chaos or the excitement.
But everything changed on the third day after the game’s launch. Out of nowhere, a catastrophic bug struck: every computer in Quantum Core Technologies was hit by an unknown virus. The entire system crashed in an instant.
Players were suddenly kicked out of the online game, their connections severed, their money lost. No one could log back in.
The tech department was paralyzed with shock. They rushed to inform Curtis, who immediately called in every programmer he could get his hands on.
For three hours, they worked frantically, even bringing in one of the most renowned hackers in the country. They finally managed to wipe out the virus, but that’s when an even bigger problem emerged.
The game’s built-in self-destruct sequence had been triggered. The backend code was now nothing but gibberish-completely unreadable. Even the best techs had no idea how to fix it.
The online store pulled the game immediately. Outside Quantum Core Technologies’ headquarters, furious players formed a dense crowd, demanding refunds and shouting their outrage.
The entire company was thrown into turmoil. Curtis could only hastily arrange a press conference to apologize to the players, scrambling to contain the disaster.
But the ones who suffered the most weren’t Quantum Core Technologies or Curtis it was their investors.
McNeil, the main backer, not only lost his initial investment but saw over half a billion dollars in additional funding vanish into thin air overnight.
When Ailie heard the news in her office, she was stunned. Was this karma at work?
Victoria was still at her desk when Ailie burst in, practically glowing with
excitement. Victoria assumed she’d come to vent again and turned around with a resigned sigh.
“Ailie, that’s enough,” she said flatly.
Ailie’s eyes sparkled. “So you heard?”
She slapped her thigh in delight. “I told you McNeil would get what’s coming to him! Ha, it finally happened!”
Victoria looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“You haven’t heard? The game’s dead-completely crashed. The tech team’s been fighting it all day and can’t bring it back. I bet Mr. Garcia will be begging for your help soon.”
Serves them right, Ailie thought.
Victoria’s expression didn’t change. “Even if he comes to me… it won’t help.” When Victoria wrote the original code, she’d embedded a self-destruct protocol. The only way to disable it was with a unique password—a name only she knew: Vivian. But the tech team rushed the game to launch before she could enter the final key.
So after three days of running without the last command, the self-destruct triggered automatically. Now the crash was irreversible.
Victoria wasn’t naïve. As the game’s architect, she always covered her bases.
Her years as a mechanic at the Grand Prix circuit had exposed her to enough backstabbing and dirty tricks to shape her into someone who never left herself vulnerable. If she hadn’t been so cautious, how else could McNeil have turned The Langford Group into the top company in Starfall City just three years after marrying her?
She glanced at her phone. Every news alert was about the catastrophic crash of Quantum Core Technologies’ game.
Curtis would come looking for her, she was sure. But he probably wouldn’t be the first.
“Why not, though? This is your chance!” Ailie pressed, eyes shining. “Victoria, you could name any price-Mr. Garcia would give you whatever you asked for.”
Victoria couldn’t help but sigh at the look on Ailie’s face.
If Ailie ever ended up poor, Victoria thought, it would be because of her lack of
common sense.
“I can’t help them,” Victoria said plainly. “Unless I rewrite the whole program from scratch, there’s nothing anyone can do.”